Decorated or Undecorated: Analysis of the Early-Middle Neolithic Transition in Western Iberia Through the Ceramic’s Stylist Techniques and Decorative Motifs

In this article, we study the role played by pottery production in the transition from Early Neolithic to Middle Neolithic in Western Iberia (∼4500–3300 cal BC) based on a critical analysis of the available empirical data. We establish a chronological and cultural sequence for this period, regarding which the historical problematic is still poorly defined due to a lasting absence of scientific discussion about the long Neolithisation process. During the evolved Early Neolithic (∼5200–4500 cal BC), archeological record shows regional specificities and cultural identities in human groups occupying a vast territory. Pottery collections evidence the strong social importance of decorative grammars, marked by a wide variety of techniques and decorative patterns. In quantitative terms, decorated vessels largely prevail over undecorated vessels. However, in the following chrono-cultural phase, the Initial Middle Neolithic (∼4500–3700 cal BC), it starts an increasing prevalence of undecorated vessels over decorated. Decorative systems prefer the incision technique to impression (dominant in the Early Neolithic). Recurrent use of an incised motif called incised line below the rim. In this period, this type of decoration prevails in the set of decorated pottery and is found in different geographic contexts. This adds consistency to the interpretation according to which the same artifact collections are found in all settlements of the initial Middle Neolithic. Finally, by the time of the first-known Megalithic burials – Full Moment of the Middle Neolithic (3700–3300 cal BC) – the decorative grammars almost disappear from pottery sets, which became more “common” and missed some of their symbolic and social meaning. Undecorated vessels prevail even more strongly than in the previous period.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effectiveness of health services in Portuguese Hospitals under Public-Private Partnerships regimes

The evaluation of the effectiveness of the medical services in the Portuguese Public-Private Partnership (PPP) hospitals is a very relevant problem in public policy. The study was conducted using a research protocol created by distinguished academics fulfilling a request from World Health Organization. The eight dimensions of this protocol was used as a good guideline to understand and appraise the main features and interactions of the PPP model. The study then proceeded by considering one of these characteristics, the performance and outcome aspect, through a two tier analysis. First a comparison of the outcome indicators between the four PPP hospitals and the Portuguese public hospitals’ national system. The second was a productivity analysis of the hospital activity, considering several inputs (medical staff, hospital capacity and population served). The results from 2012 to 2014 show that PPP hospitals present a pattern of activity and results very similar to the rest of the national service, with a positive trend in performance on all four PPP hospitals. In what regards productivity, however, the levels of PPP hospitals seem to be considerably higher than the national average, in all inputs. This indicates the ability to produce the same with much lower use of resources. This preliminary study reveals some interesting stylized facts of medical services of PPP hospitals, which deserve further and more detailed consideration

“An attractive force”: the meaning of drugs to users from an island in Cape Verde

Este estudo teve como objetivo compreender o significado do consumo de drogas na perspectiva de usuários, atendidos em um ambulatório do Serviço da Saúde Mental de uma ilha do arquipélago de Cabo Verde. Dada a natureza do problema, esta investigação utilizou a abordagem qualitativa, tendo como referencial metodológico a Teoria Fundamentada nos Dados, à luz do Interacionismo Simbólico. Participaram do estudo nove usuários de drogas do referido ambulatório. A entrevista gravada e a observação foram as estratégias de obtenção de dados. A análise comparativa dos dados resultou no fenômeno central “uma força que atrai”, expressando a grande dificuldade que os usuários têm para se afastar do consumo abusivo de substâncias psicoativas, sabendo, previamente, que todos os problemas enfrentados nas esferas pessoal, familiar e social advêm da habituação. Este estudo permitiu, assim, identificar pontos vulneráveis de possível atuação da equipe de saúde, visando a prevenção do abuso de drogas.Ese estudio cualitativo tuvo como objetivo comprender el significado del consumo de drogas desde la perspectiva de usuarios atendidos en una clínica del Servicio de Salud Mental de una isla del archipiélago de Cabo Verde. La investigación tuvo como referencial metodológico la Teoría Fundamentada en los Datos, bajo la interpretación del Interaccionismo Simbólico. Participaron del estudio nueve usuarios de drogas de la referida clínica. La grabación de la entrevista y su observación fueron las estrategias para obtener los datos. El análisis comparativo de los datos mostró como resultado el fenómeno central “Una fuerza que atrae”, que expresa la gran dificultad que los usuarios tienen para alejarse del consumo abusivo de substancias psicoactivas, sabiendo, previamente, que todos los problemas enfrentados en las esferas personal, familiar y social provienen de la drogadicción. Este estudio permitió, así, identificar puntos vulnerables en los cuales podría actuar el equipo de salud con la finalidad de prevenir el abuso de drogas.This qualitative study aimed to understand the meaning of drug consumption from the view of users who receive care in an outpatient clinic of a Mental Health Service on an island of the Cape Verde archipelago. The methodological framework was based on the Data-founded Theory, in the light of Symbolic Interactionism. Participants were nine drug users from the mentioned outpatient clinic. Recorded interviews and observation were the strategies for data collection. The comparative data analysis resulted in the central phenomenon “An attractive force”, which expresses the great difficult users have to stop the abusive consumption of psychoactive substances, knowing that all problems faced in the personal, familiar and social areas come from drug habituation. Thus, this study permitted the identification of vulnerable points for possible action by the health team, aiming for the prevention of drug abuse

A indústria de pedra lascada do Monte da Foz 1 (Benavente, Portugal): contribuição para o conhecimento do talhe da pedra na segunda metade do V milénio a.C.

Apresentam‑se, numa perspectiva descritiva, os principais resultados da análise tecno‑tipológica realizada sobre os artefactos de pedra lascada da ocupação do Neolítico Antigo do Monte da Foz 1. Trata‑se de um conjunto artefactual onde predomina o recurso a uma estratégia de talhe expedito para a obtenção de lascas sob matérias‑primas, essencialmente, locais (quartzito e quartzo). Embora com menor peso contabilístico, observou‑se a presença de uma indústria lamelar e laminar em sílex para a produção de produtos alongados e utensílios. O presente texto pretende, igualmente, contribuir para o conhecimento acerca do talhe da pedra nas fases finais do Neolítico Antigo no actual território português.Abstract: The aim of this text is to present the flaked industry of Early Neolithic habitat of Monte da Foz 1 (Benavente, Portugal). This industry main goal was the production of a macro industry of flakes and borers, using local raw materials (quartzite and quartz). With a lower weight of presences, it was, also, possible to observe the existence of a flint laminary industry, which brought out an interesting number of blades, bladelets and geometric armatures represented by segments and trapezes. This study allows to contribute for the understanding of the lithic production during the late phases of the Early Neolithic, in transition to the Middle Neolithic

Uma primeira leitura sobre a ocupação pré-histórica do sítio Monte da Barrada II (Alfundão, Ferreira do Alentejo)

O sítio arqueológico Monte da Barrada II foi identificado durante a execução do acompanhamento arqueológico realizado no âmbito do projecto “Minimização de Impactes sobre o Património Cultural decorrentes da execução do Bloco de Rega de Alfundão”, desenvolvido pela EDIA S.A. O Monte da Barrada II define-se como um sítio constituído por estruturas negativas (na área da vala da conduta de rega), inseridas num espaço crono-cultural entre os finais do IV e os inícios do III milénio AC, segundo o critério de análise tipológica e tecnológica realizada sobre o espólio arqueológico observado na Fossa 3

Anthropopaty and its assessment in virtual entities

The introduction and the natural evaluation of virtual entities presenting human like feelings and behaviours, living in virtual worlds, being based on agents, organizations or other kind of artefacts, has been made, almost exclusively, by an evaluation of such characteristics and assumptions, in terms of a set of quantitative variables. In this paper, it is presented an alternative way to analyse and evaluate an intelligent’s system body of knowledge in terms of its anthropopathic potential, that considers quantitative, qualitative and incomplete information, through and extension to the language of logic programming

An evolutionary approach to generate solutions for conflict scenarios

Conflict resolution is nowadays an important topic. Online Dispute Resolution in particular is nowadays a major research topic, focusing on the development of technology-based tools to assist parties involved in conflict resolution processes. In this paper we present such a tool aimed at the generation of solutions. It is based on Genetic Algorithms that evolve a population of solutions through successive iterations, generating more specialized ones. The result is a tree of solutions that the conflict resolution platform can use to guide the conflict resolution process. This approach is especially suited for parties which have no ability or are unwilling to generate realistic proposals for the resolution of the conflict

Sete de setembro: uma análise da polaridade em posicionamentos de publicações no instagram

Tendo em vista o atual cenário político brasileiro e a expressiva utilização da internet como meio de transmissão de informações, este artigo tem como objetivo analisar, por meio da indexicalidade, a constituição de publicações do Instagram de temática político-partidária com posicionamentos socioideológicos contrários. Para isso, foram selecionadas duas publicações de páginas do Instagram com a mesma temática, mas com posicionamentos político-ideológicos contrários, no caso, a comemoração do bicentenário da Independência do Brasil, que ocorreu no ano de 2021. As análises e discussões ocorreram amparadas nos estudos discursivos sobre Indexicalidade em consonância com as contribuições de Cesarino (2020) sobre o populismo digital e algorítmico e as redes sociais, dos estudos de Blommaert (2020) sobre a comunicação política de massa e as relações algorítmicas e, por fim, uma reflexão sobre a relação entre política e a mídia digital, como proposto por Maly (2020). As considerações finais apontam para aspectos indexicais que marcam tanto a polaridade de posicionamentos quanto o poder do populismo digital no espaço online-offline